


A Meeting with Pie Eater (And Others)

by MerryDew (Honey_Dew_Mellon)



Series: Musicals; A Star Wars AU [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Actual US President Teddy Roosevelt In Space, Gen, Mentioned Character Death, Mentioned violence, Out Of Context Space Teddy Roosevelt, Star Wars AU, Teddy Roosevelt is actually immortal and in Star Wars, mentioned torture, not much really happens, political disccusions (of in universe things)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 14:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11511063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honey_Dew_Mellon/pseuds/MerryDew
Summary: A meeting to tie together two separate plots lines in the Musicals: A Star Wars EU. Very little actually occurs in the way of action but a lot of world building and character establishment for Pie Eater. Prior knowledge of Star Wars not really required but you may wish to google who Winter is.





	A Meeting with Pie Eater (And Others)

Pie Eater kept his face schooled to stillness as he glanced around the room. This round table had been called to deal with the video that was currently playing on his datapad. He’d muted the volume but he couldn’t bring himself to turn it off. The video of Brian Denton’s execution had been broadcast, publicly, on imperial channels yesterday and just after he had watched it a shuttle had arrived to bring him… here. He could only guess as to where here actually was, he was just told that it was a classified resistance base.  


The video looped back to the beginning yet again and he recognized the pale scar that curved just around the outer edge of Brian’s left eye. He’d given him that scar in a training match when the other operative had incorrectly assumed that the match had ended. Despite knowing that this job was dangerous his first instinct upon watching the video had been denial; that it couldn’t be Brian so he’d downloaded it and watched it over and over again during transport. His own observations had forced him to accept the fact that his former trainee was the human male being killed in the video.  


He’d been surprised to find that he was the first one here. With the summons being so urgent he’d thought that he would walk into an already full meeting but he’d been the first to arrive. Either that meant that the person who had called this meeting was considerate enough to allow for travel times or that everyone else was coming from even further away and this was just a middle ground.  


The video had dragged back his attention, the scrolling text under it gave an account of the charges on which Brian had been found guilty. Espionage in a variety of forms among other charges all carefully weighed to get him executed quickly, there was little doubt in his mind that they’d somehow found out that he was an operative. They hadn’t listed that among the charges, perhaps because it was unprovable or perhaps because it was already implied. He didn’t miss the fact that among those charges lay murder of an imperial officer. There where so many questions to be answered about what had happened, that was why this meeting had been called. In the hopes that answers could be found and that a choice on how to proceed could be made.  


He only reached out to pause the video when the door opened to admit a rumpled looking older human. He recognized the other man on sight, he had worked with Mabeuf back when they both still worked for the rebellion. He had thought that the older man had retired alongside his injured friend Georges Pontmercy but evidently that was not the case. Mabeuf crossed the room in a moment and sat in the chair to his left.  


The other man’s obvious discomfort caused him to reassess the situation almost instantly, when they had been young Mabeuf had been an excellent handler. While the other man had never had the talent to be a field operative, he loved his books too much and had no interest in going out to the field whatsoever he had been entirely impossible to ruffle. The fact that he was clearly ruffled simply by being called to this meeting suggested that he truly had retired. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how he might have been called back into service. Only a few months ago the station that Pie Eater was assigned to had been a stopping point for a new crew that joined the resistance, they had left their doctor behind and he had managed to corner him.  


The boy was clearly not an operative on any scale, he hadn’t had the foggiest idea of what to do once he’d been cornered and it had been too easy to convince him to answer his questions. He had mentioned that his unit had come from the local resistance on a small planet and that it had been with the help of an older resistance operative that they had been able to join up. For a time he had thought that that operative was Brian but his station at the time of his death had been days away from that planet and all evidence indicated that he had never traveled. The idea that it had been Mabeuf had never even crossed his mind but he supposed that it made more sense.  


The arrival of Mabeuf seemed to indicate that the meeting was soon to begin as before he could attempt to begin conversation, find some opening that he could use in order to get to the truth of what was going on and the extent of his former friend’s involvement, other people started to file in. It was a great relief to him that he was able to recognize everyone and instantly place a name to a face as they walked in. It would be impossible for him to be unaware of the fact that the base where he was now based was out of the main flow of resistance intelligence flow and before he’d been there he had languished in an imperial prison. Those two facts would have been enough to excuse him had he not been able to identify someone but he worked hard to ensure that he would be able to do so.  


The first was enter was someone who in his mind had no business in any debriefing that related to Brian’s death. President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was the elected leader of a collation of so called ‘free’ planets and had instantly thrown his support behind the resistance in exchanged for protection from the factions that surrounded the planets he represented. Pie Eater had considered the details of that deal to be awful for the resistance, in exchange for protection and a politically relevant position among the leader ship the resistance received land on a few of the planets. That land was used to create safe training facilities for new recruits to ensure that people where not just trust into battle with absolutely no prerequisites. A small, very small part, of his disdain for the man might have something to do with the fact that he was an elected official who insisted on being referred to as Teddy.  


The people who came into the room after him seemed better suited to have a say in this situation. Behind him came Winter Celchu, Weisel, and Leia Organa. The first of which, aside from being Leia’s adopted sister and lifelong bodyguard, was also in charge of all intelligence work done by resistance operatives. The moment that Leia stepped into the room behind her bodyguard he moved to his feet and Mabeuf quickly followed his lead. While she insisted that the resistance be run without any formal political structure it was no secret that she was the leader and in his mind that demanded that she be treated as a superior officer.  


He didn’t sit back down until she had settled into her seat. Everyone in the room had their own data pad and a quick glance to his left and right showed that at the very least both Theodore and Mabeuf also had the video pulled up on their screens. Mabeuf had paused it but Theodore continued to just let it play with the volume muted. He wished that the president would stop that, even when he didn’t directly at it or near it he could still see it playing out of the corner of his eye. Leia clearing her throat to begin the meeting wasn’t enough to completely force his attention away.  


“I trust that you have all had ample time to go over the files?” Despite having been only moderately successful in her political career with the New Republic before the revelation of her parentage had forced her out she still spoke like a politician. At least with her he could trust that she meant most of what she said, the people turning against her had only been one of the reasons that she had left. The other had been that she didn’t have the… ability to sacrifice some of the principals that her father had formed the rebellion that many of the other New Republic leadership had. Which was not to place any form of blame on them, a functional government could not be run on the same principles that would power a rebellion. That’s why the resistance existed alongside the New Republic.  


She was met with a round of nods and quick agreements. The video was still playing over on Theodore’s screen and the image of Brian’s tortured face was drawing on Pie Eater’s eyes. The president had zoomed in on the face of the man and had brought up the written brief on the other side of the screen. He wished he could reach across and take away the datapad and then toss the man from the room. Just because he represented a few planets that were desperate to be protected from the powerful entities that neighboured them did not mean that he had any business in the dealings of intelligence operatives. The man was too loud, and too obnoxious by half to have any idea of the subtly that was required to do what they did.  


“Since I called this meeting the situation has developed even further.” Leia’s simple announcement very nearly brought him hope. It wouldn’t be hard to fake an execution for the sake of propaganda and keep Brian alive for further interrogation, the empire had done it in the past. He should know, they had done it to him. The only reason that he was currently breathing free air was because of a chance interception of a prisoner manifest that had included an image of his face. Otherwise he would still be listed as a dead rebel agent and no one would even be looking. “There has been chatter on a resistance frequency. Winter will explain” Even while her words decreased the likelihood that perhaps his apprentice had survived they still almost his full attention to the white haired human, a part of him was still focused on the video he could see out of the corner of his eye.  


Winter wasn’t white haired due to age, the woman had been that way her entire life as far as he was aware. She certainly had been when some of her agents had first recruited him in the outer rim. At the time it had been the promise of consistent work with –relatively – trust worthy people and money that he could send home that had convinced him to join the rebellion. He had eventually come to believe in the rebellions ideals when he realized just how akin they were to how all nonhumans beyond the outer rim felt about the Dynasty. The Dynasty being almost a proto-empire that had been founded by human colonists beyond the outer rim. The sort of people that had been attracted to it where the same type of people that had given the Empire its xenophobic policies.  


She didn’t even look down at her datapad, instead she laid it out to the side with the display down as she leaned forwards over the table. “Two standard days before the broadcast of Denton’s execution all rebellion communication in the area went silent. At the time there was no reason to suspect that it was anything more than a cautious reaction to increased imperial activity in the area but we came to believe that something had happened to Denton’s handler as they were also in charge of our operations in the area. When we intercepted the broadcast on imperial channels we activated other assets in the area.”  


“Those assets have shed quite a lot of light on the situation. Denton was the only agent in the area that the empire was made aware of and the only one that was captured which means that his support system in still in place. Presumably, as there had been no evidence to counter this whatsoever even in internal Imperial communications, that leaves several of our agents out there in the dark.”  


“We have not received any communications from those missing agents but yesterday there was communication on Denton’s emergency frequency. The message did not come from any of our missing agents but rather from a source of his. This source is someone whom he has been using both to get intelligence for us and to post a series of articles that heavily damaged the reputation of the systems Moff, Joseph Pulitzer. The source has requested an emergency extraction but all that we have to identify them with is the name K. Plumber. Denton never identified her to us nor did he do so to the company through which he was publishing his articles as he provided plenty of evidence to back up his stories.”  


Winter’s gaze stopped scanning the table as a whole and instead focused directly on Pie Eater and Mabeuf. “Now because of the mysterious circumstances of the events that led up to Denton being burned some of our agents are going to be reassigned for their own protection. Both of your units will be affected by these changes as some agents that were given backstories with some of the same elements and references as Denton will be returning to their old assignments. More information on that will be provided to you once the general meeting as concluded.”  


He didn’t need to have more information provided. Since his assignment to the Newsies base there had only been one team of agents that had left his command. Sarah Jacobs and her team. It was no small relief to have them returned. No new permanent team had been assigned to the base since their absence and, on a more personal note, Sarah had been trained by Denton. While naturally he could never inform her of that fact he did take pride in knowing that he had trained Denton well enough that he could go on to train efficient agents. Still he wished that he had trained him well enough that he hadn’t gotten himself killed by going off book and doing something stupid.  


“Due to the fluid nature of the situation and all the assets that are currently missing or unidentified in the area the resistance has had to abort all plans that we had for the region.” Winter glanced over to Leia, obviously inviting the general to take over the briefing but she didn’t do so and the intelligence operative continued. “However we have managed to get the council to agree to send in a team. Pie Eater, Mabeuf you two are here because both of you are currently representing units that have the required skills to manage the situation and get the answers that we need.”  


This was as much of a surprise for Pie Eater as it was to Mabeuf. The older human gave a startled jerk and his fingers skidded across the smooth surface of the table in surprise. In an instant that surprise was gone but there was still an air of hesitation about him as he stilled his hands. He had to wonder what the man had actually been doing all these years while he had been imprisoned but he also had to accept that he was unlike to know the details. Still it was one of those details that kept Mabeuf quiet and from instantly volunteering as the operative would have when they were both younger.  


As for the Newsies and Brooklyns he thought that they were ready for another assignment. It had been over half a standard year since their ambush and the units had recovered. They’d had more than enough time to mourn those that had died, for their injured to recover and for replacement equipment to arrive. It was his opinion that they ought not to be have been given as much time as they had been, while they were pilots they were more than capable of pulling off missions in smaller teams. Surely doing so what have ensured that they kept their edge and did not have time to soften. As it was he could not honestly assess their mission readiness, only that it was time for them to go on one.  


At least Mabeuf still appeared to be unable to even do that much for the people that he was representing. He sat still aside from his nervously tapping fingers and eyes that flitted from the holopad in front of him over to the others around the table. Winter was still talking, running over the risks of the mission and explaining exactly what kind of resistance and counter spy things that may be in place but he mentally set her words aside. He still absorbed them but for the moment his mind was on the situation and atmosphere in the room. He would be sure to go over what he heard on the way back in preparation for the briefing that he would be giving the Newsies and Brooklyns should they be the ones assigned the job.  


Mabeuf’s obvious anxiety was going unremarked, unlikely unnoticed, by most of the people around the table aside from Roosevelt. The president’s eyes where focused solely on the other handler and his thoughts seemed almost to be written on his face, at the very least Pie Eater had no difficultly seeing them there. The man was ambitious, something to be expected of an elected politician but he suspected that it ran much further. Within the coalition of worlds that he represented he had already achieved the highest rank and by bringing them to the resistance he had opened the door to obtaining even higher honors. Politically it would have made more sense to join the New Republic but chances for a planetary representative to advance there was limited due to the senate system.  


Things where dramatically different in the Resistance. Here a planetary representative could find themselves made into a general or admiral should they play their cards right. While the planets represented by Roosevelt did not individually have much power as a united force they had enough power to make outside forces think twice about invading. They was how they had held off both the Empire from further inside and the Dynasty from even further out in the unknown regions. That military might was something that Roosevelt had as leverage and this situation presented itself as one in which it could be used. Should neither he nor Mabeuf speak up and volunteer their men then he would be willing to place good money on the fact that the president had a team of operatives standing by to take over. Perhaps that was why he had been called here.  


“The Newsies and Brooklyns are prepared to accept this mission.”  


He spoke quickly. Almost the moment that he processed the idea that Roosevelt could actually have a team ready he volunteered his units. There was in inherent threat to Roosevelt’s unit taking the job but for some reason Pie Eater couldn’t make himself trust him. The man was a politician and if there was one thing that remained consistent through the Republic, the Empire, the Rebellion, The New Republic and now the resistance it was that politicians could not be trusted. At least not those who embraced their position as such. He had only been free for a few years and had seen more holonet stories than he cared to count about some politician changing sides. In his mind Leia was one of the few who actually cared for the people that she lead.  


He had everyone eyes on him now and that video continued to play on Roosevelt’s datapad, he allowed himself to watch it out of the corner of his eye as he continued. “Both units have had time to fully recover from the losses that they sustained in the ambush and I am more than confident that they will be able to perform their duties as assigned.” Perhaps some small part of his decision rested in the steadily growing resentment inside for the president.  


With everyone’s eyes on him he forced himself to acknowledge that his hasty words might now earn his units the assignment. The moment that he had spoken his mind had flooded with all the reasons that he should not be given the assignment. Many of them where far more personal than the fact that he could trust neither Mabeuf nor Roosevelt to do this. His personal attachment to Denton was likely clouding his judgement and that was also probably an underlying reason that he didn’t trust the others on this. There was also the fact that Mabeuf looked too anxious for him to be willing to trust him with something like this and Roosevelt… just annoyed him on many levels.  


After his outburst the rest of the general meeting seemed to move quicker, for its entire duration Roosevelt never paused the video. No matter who was speaking, he could always see his protégé dying out of the corner of his eye. Usually he’d be able to just shrug something like that off, but with it coming from a man who annoyed him with his very presence it was harder to do so. By the time that it had wrapped up he had his hand under the table curled around the bottom ledge to stop him from launching himself across the table and slamming Roosevelt’s face into the datapad’s screen until the video could not possibly play any longer.  


Eventually Leia stood, she’d said only a few more words the entire meeting, leaving much of the briefing on how the situation on Shylanel was to Winter, but her standing still brought the meeting to a close. He wondered why she had chosen to stay silent, he knew that there had to be a reason. While the resistance had been in part born out of her distain for harsh politics she had always proven that she was more than capable of playing the role of the cold politician when it came down to a matter of necessity. Perhaps she too had clocked something concerning about Roosevelt. In any case her standing cued the end of the meeting.  


“President Roosevelt, Mabeuf. You two are free to go. Shuttles are waiting to take you on to your destinations. Weisel, Pie Eater you two stay put.” As if she had cued it to open on her voice command the door slide open to admit two guards.  


He instantly identified them as fresh from the training academy, no one else quite had that same ridgedness to them. At least no one as young as these two looked to be. His suppositions where confirmed when Roosevelt gave them a nod. So the man was recruiting bodyguards out of the academy, he supposed that this had become inevitable when they placed the training grounds on his planet. It was only natural that a man such as the President would be like to show off the fact that he had control over the Resistance’s supply of soldiers. Still he hoped that the man was at least clever enough to have some more senior bodyguards on staff. Fresh trainees may look nice and shiny but they were inexperienced and green. They should be given tasks that were difficult but also have tight supervision and more than one should never be given the same job. Clearly Roosevelt didn’t agree with him on that.  


He had to stop questioning Roosevelt’s choices in personal security as the moment that he walked out of the room Winter and Leia both turned their full attention to him and Snyder. He could feel the other operative glaring at him and reluctantly turned to look at him. The man was so quiet and completely still with no distinct reaction to anything that it was almost possible to forget that he was there. He had almost forgotten that Snyder was a completely different person when he was around superiors than he was when he was around his units. During Newsie and Brooklyn debriefings he was abrasive and more than a little bit rude to his operatives. He also had quite a presence on their base, it had been so long since Pie Eater had been in a meeting with him that he was somewhat shaken by his transformation into a wall flower.  


Still he knew why the other man had broken his plain mask in order to glare at him. It was not strictly speaking his place to volunteer the Newsies and Brooklyns for a mission. He and Snyder were of equal rank on the base so he was given copies of all reports. Due to the nature of being an intelligence operative he did not have to loop the human in what his operatives were doing in the same way. As of late he had not been given any long term operatives so he had been spending a lot more time with the other unit’s files. That was how he was certain that they were ready for this mission, they showed co-ordination nearly equal to what they had had coming out of the academy with the original line up.  


“Are your units ready for this?” Leia directed the question to Snyder who ceased glaring at him long enough to give her a nod. “Good. It’s about time that we have them back in action. I will have all the information that we’ve collected on all possible players in the area waiting on your shuttle. Some of the people with whom Denton was in regular contact are still on the surface and I have personally verified that they have not been made. They’ll be working with your handlers once you are surface side and are your best hope to find all Denton’s assets.”  


“I have not been able to verify what I am about to tell you but it is my belief that all unaccounted for agents in the area are dead. There were a number of arrest warrants released on the same day as Denton’s but the names where kept secret. As far as we can tell all the targets ended up dead either before or after arrest. That is likely where the empire found some pale justification for charging Denton with murder. The only operative that we are positive remains alive is this K. Plumber and they are to be your utmost priority.”  


This kind of parcelling information had to have a reason. There was no reason for her not to tell, or rather have Winter tell, the others about those facts unless she had some reason to be suspicious of their loyalties. It was not his place to ask about that and he decided that for the moment it would be best that he stick to doing one thing that was outside of his place per day or perhaps year.  


“The reason that I allowed President Roosevelt to attend this meeting was to put him in a room with you lot. I was hoping that Mabeuf would be up to the task of getting me another read on the man but it appears that he is still to newly returned to be back to his old standards” he was somewhat surprised when Leia continued to speak, he had not been expecting to actually be told more than what he strictly needed to know about what was happening. “As it is I will have to make do with the impressions of the two of you alongside my own and Winter’s” She leaned back in a clear cue for them to speak and this time Pie Eater held his tongue to allow Snyder the opportunity to voice his opinion first.  


“He’s a politician.” The human seemed reluctant to speak further but it was clear that Leia wanted something more than just a statement of his job, which also happened to have been her job for much of her life. “I wouldn’t want him to be at my back with a blaster because I don’t think that he’d know which way to point it and I wouldn’t personally vote for him but there doesn’t seem to be anything that strikes me as particularly dangerous.” With that he seemed to be finished.  


“He’s obviously ambitious.” Pie Eater started out slowly in an effort to compose his thoughts and attempt to remove all personal bias from the report he was about to give. Somehow he doubted that Leia was interested in knowing that he personally found the nickname of Teddy to be a complete absurdity for any important person. Instead he focused on the same things that had lead him to quickly volunteer the Newsies for this job. “He likely sees it as a strength of his and there’s no way that he will be able to be content with just being the President of an independent solar system. He over estimates the value of having the training facilities on one of his planets and he will certainly attempt to climb the ladder as far as he possibly can go no matter the cost. However he also places too much value on his reputation among his people to be likely to turn on us at any point.”  


The hours each day he spent reading every report that he had clearance to access were finally being put to good use. He doubted that he was being asked to give a character assessment, more likely all that was needed for him was a gut reaction but he was still more inclined to be as thorough as he possibly could be on the matter. Despite his best efforts he was unable to keep a little of his personal feelings from slipping out at the end of his report. “All and all I find him to be a personal irritation but more than likely suitable to fill some random position that lets his planets know they’re valued but also keeps him away from anything that over reaching ambition could cause harm to.” Both Winter and Leia smiled at that and he got the impression that he’d both done exactly what they’d expected of him and confirmed what they had already thought.  


“Your shuttle is waiting for you in docking bay 5E. It will not be leaving until you are both aboard but I would still advise that you get there quickly. The moment that you arrive back at your space station you are to begin the preparations for departure. There is a facility waiting for you in a neighbouring system to your targets location and instructions and how to infiltrate the system safely. You are dismissed.” Leia stepped towards the door before Pie Eater and Snyder had the chance to stand and within moments the two women had glided out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Merrydew here, I wrote this and Mellon-Nin edited it. I didn't realize how little actually occurred until now. If you are interested in seeing other things that we have written I recommend that you check out our ff.net account (fair warning; Crackfiction) which is under the similar name of Honey.Dew.Mellon . Thank you for reading and please leave some form of feedback on which for me to thrive.


End file.
